Posts by Esskay

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Re: Is this really that cutting edge?

"As it stands though it feels like the same kind of "genius" that would create coathangers with inbuilt clocks and a combined tyre iron/back scrubber"

So... I'd be able to keep the hanger in my car in case I get a flat tyre, hang my after-work dinner clothes on it, give myself a quick scrub after work and not have to worry about being late? How much money do I need to throw at you and in which direction do I throw it?

@ LarsG Re: You are obviously not a parent.

Yes, because all parents have a smartphone for their two year olds. "Those of a differing opinion must not have children" is an equally sweeping statement, that you don't see the irony is of concern.

The term pacify is entirely appropriate for the concept of giving your phone to your kid to keep them quiet and occupied. The length of time involved doesn't affect the definition of the term.

I concur with the rest of your post though - the devs must be at least partially aware of the issue, the risk of loss of advertisers is (sadly) presumably enough of a deterrent to cause them to turn a blind eye - even the need to enter a password before making a transaction (something I imagine Apple could do at an OS level) would be enough to prevent unwanted purchases...

Symptom or disease?

Whilst the people coming up with ways to hook children into accidentally/unknowingly clicking on ads are amongst the lowest of the low, and deserve to burn in hell along with lawyers and politicians, surely of equal/greater concern is the parent who gives their latest shiny to their two year old in an attempt to "pacify" them? Not to mention that even from the perspective of a two year old the iPhone/iPad must be completely simplistic and fairly boring - no tactile buttons, no smash-proof surfaces, and once covered in slobber won't even work properly...

"with full gold dressing for the rear section"

Setec Astronomy

The number of theories for why phones have to be turned off demonstrates the quoted pilot's view that "Commercial aviation is a breeding ground of bad information"... And in many cases the airlines have only themselves to blame.

Eadon's review:

Even if my home was "always on"

There's no guarantee that the servers would be, as evidenced by Simcity.

I've put about 3 hours into SimCity in the last month, mainly because every time I go to play I think - what if the server cuts out halfway through? What if I play for 2 hours and the server doesn't sync, losing my save (it's happened before)? Once they've got my money there's no incentive for them to maintain the quality of the experience, and anyone so motivated by penny counting as to require always on is probably not going to be concerned about server issues after a sale is made.

Even if Adam Orth's views "do not reflect those of Microsoft's", I find it unlikely that his attitude won't pervade his decisions at the company. Legally Microsoft might felt as though they've clawed their way out, but IANAL, and I care nought for their "legal" position.

Why sail around the world?

Foolish "Foolishness" Foolishness

The "missing link" header is inaccurate, if only because the primates being described are contemporaries of humans - it's akin to a foolish creationist thinking that evolution means we evolved from gorillas (when, in fact, we share a relatively recent common ancestor).

However in terms of vocalisations humans appear to be far and above anything yet discovered or heard in primates, so the observations of this species of primate, and their apparently advanced communications could well serve as a contemporary "link" between ourselves and primates that has been "missing" from research so far.

I'd say the use of the term is sneaky, but the assumption from the reader is that the term is used in the well-worn context of evolution, to the exclusion of all others - a foolish assumption to make.

Or, since we're on the Reg, it could be someone having a bit of fun with daily mail-esque headline fibbery.

Re: No Refs

Whilst it may work well for people standing in front of a perfectly flat wall, what happens if they are, as mentioned in the article, in "foliage"? or behind flyscreen? I imagine a system that gets a good reflection off clothing would also get some sort of reflection off fine mesh (although I'm happy to stand corrected). Also the dude's belt appears to be playing havoc with the reflections a bit, perhaps this is one occasion where a tinfoil hat may actually have a use?

Unbelievable.

The mere fact that "bounce back" has any bearing on anything in the world at all is depressing, that it affects litigation from one of the world's biggest tech companies against it's rivals is pathetic.

I remember reading books as a kid about "tomorrow's technology", and none of them mentioned any of this useless litigious crap.

Typical art-lover responses:

"photo is amazing! He is truly the most wonderful camera button pusher in the universe, I will quote him, order framed prints of his work and generally act all stalkery around his relatives"

Good photo by little known photographer -

...(already skipped past image)

Whilst not a fan of the journo who wrote this piece, I do appreciate "art lovers" going apoplectic over an image which they claim is by their favourite person, whose style they admire, whose images all have a certain character - only to find that the style, image and character all belong to a different, entirely unknown artist - a fact that they, as "art lovers", have completely, utterly failed to realise.

The sad result is that most art critics, in order to save face, will now hold up "new" photographer as the prodigy of who they thought actually took the photo, and try and bring the second photographer up on a pedestal that no-one else will ever reach - until someone else takes a photo, and credit is given to the well known photographer, etc...

Another phrase to get rid of:

"Face time". (icon seemed appropriate).

I've got a manager that repeatedly talks of Face Time - not getting enough, needing more, scheduling some in - ironically, usage of the phrase is a good way of ensuring that no-one wants to give him any.

For more phrases that need to be restructured going forward, see "Death Sentences" and "Weasel Words" By Don Watson.

Not just a politician

The guy sounds like a person, rather than the typical mayor - I reckon in a lot of western countries, when the destruction hit, the politicians would be the first ones out and the last ones back - no voters in the city = no need to be there.

Great to see this guy cares enough about the city to not just tell people how much good he's doing, whilst glossing over the bad, but actually showing the world what has happened.

Re: What's good for the goose...

Cue The Daily Telegraph headline:

NBN TO BE 30% SLOWER.

Back to reality though, what are the chances of this being mass produced at a decent price? Also the fragiliy of the fibres could be a factor... Sounds promising though, here's hoping something good comes of it.

Anyone thinking about shopping there

Will now probably just wait for the closing down sale.

I can understand some brick and mortar stores getting the shits at people just browsing and going elsewhere, but hasn't that been going on since time immemorial? Nothing stopped people browsing at multiple shops before the rise of the internet (although I'll admit it's a lot easier now). Brick and Mortar stores DO have strengths and advantages over online stores , I can't help but think offering a free sample would encourage people to buy there (out of guilt, if nothing else) more than this sign would. Customer service also goes a long way (but I get the feeling this may be in short supply...).

Ultimately, if people don't buy your wares, putting up what is effectively a paywall to enter is NOT going to change that (in a positive way).

Re: cryptic missive

Re: cryptic missive

I forgot this is the age of 5 second attention spans, where things only get funded if the result is a big explosion or the ability to slap an American flag down somewhere (in the name of Freedom(tm) of course).

Maybe the next rover should incorporate an automated tweeting service to splurt inane crap every five seconds?

"OMG wheelz r so drty LOL #newshoes"

And thanks to the average twatter intelligence level, garbled, corrupted messages won't even get noticed.

"Orlowski is a twat"

Re: The delay is rather large

How long ago was the roll-out started? 34% might sound like a lot, but as has already been said, this early in the roll-out, 34% of not much is still not much - the marathon runner analogy applies just as well here, claiming his speed is 34% less than what it needs to be 100m into the race, and getting an "expert" to extrapolate that as taking hours longer to complete the race is only "logical" if you're a young liberal.

Contractor issues are real, not dreamed up - the issues with Syntheo not hitting targets have been reported repeatedly, so going on to claim that it's "either bad budgeting or bad management, but I would say both" is ignoring the stated facts.

Re - manpower, the main benefit during rollout is job creation, something of great benefit during a global financial crisis.

Re: Bye, bye copper!

I've priced NBN plans as being cheaper than cable in some instances, allowing for either an increase in usage cap with a similar speed, or increased speed and a slight downgrade in usage (but still very high).

ADSL2+ is great for those who live near the exchange, for everyone else it's balls. At least fibre speeds will increase with only a backhaul upgrade necessary in the future, and distance won't be an issue.

Re: Nice spin

The estimates are unrealistic at the beginning of the project, as any are - I don't think any massive infrastructure project has ever met zero delays, particularly when the timeframe being discussed is one of many years, and particularly when the plan has the opposition roadblocking it at every step. It's like someone tripping a marathon runner in the first 100m and telling all the spectators how that person is definitely going to lose now. This early in the project, a delay is more of a political hiccup than anything that will affect the final timeframe.

Not to mention the fact that as the rollout ramps up, it's entirely feasible that the targets will be exceeded - the idea that this is as good as it's going to get is incredibly short-sighted.

The 457 visa issue only has an impact if the skilled labourers currently coming to Australia under those visas are moving into the telecommunications industry, and are certified cablers. As it happens, I believe a great deal of 457 visas go to people who take up jobs in the mining industry over in WA.

Re: Brownfields? Greenfields?

A quick net-search explains that Brown fields and Greenfields refers to parts of the rollout map which are earmarked for NBN connection within certain timeframes. They're colour-coded to make at-a-glance viewing easier on the interested public.

A little bit I don't mind

As long as it's used to substitute TV ads, rather than simply in addition to them, I don't mind, and as long as it's not obvious or intrusive (the pickup truck in the video was obvious, the fake TV behind the stand up guy was intrusive).

It's also ironic that a lot of producers are required to pay ridiculous amounts of money/jump through hoops to get clearance to use or even make reference to brands in movies, but now they're spending money trying to get their products back in to the movies...

And what happens if (for example) Ford paid huge sums of money to get their cars into a movie, and the film then airs on TV with GM ads and billboards everywhere? I'm fairly certain Ford won't be too happy, unless there are guarantees that can be made about the types/brands that are used in the ads, I can see traditional product placement disappearing - in effect, nothing changes, and no extra money is made.

Advanced Boffinry

@Dave 126

Undoubtedly, it's a case of horses for courses - waterproofing is high up on some people's lists, with good reason - it comes down to how we use our phones. But after having Xenon flash on a phone 5 or so years ago, going back to LED is kind of annoying (athough I'll admit the torch feature of the LED is valuable in it's own right).

A seperate flash unit would be great, but then it's another thing to carry around. Still, it's a good way to deliver it to people who want it :)

Icon says it all

As much as I'd love to see Sony pump out some beaut phones, their flagships seem to always be almost-but-not-quite as good as the competition. They've come to be the phone that people have in their top four but knock it out of the running first.

Plus the features seem haphazard - a special camera mode, waterproof, custom menu - their phones just appear...lost.

And I share the author's lament of the absence of xenon flash on the Xperia (and, to be fair, every handset out there from every manufacturer). My 3.2Mp Sony Ericsson K800i which I have sitting in a desk drawer somewhere still manages to put new "flagship" handsets to shame in nighttime flash shooting, thanks to the Xenon flash - sure, it takes up valuable internal room, and probably drinks battery, but If Sony were looking for a way to *truly* differentiate their phones (and add value to the "cybershot" brand) that would be the way to do it IMO.

Spin baby, spin!

"After the offer expires it is likely that an EA/Maxis bean-counter will run the numbers on the games people chose and come up with a number representing either lost or missed revenue."

Also likely is that the titles people choose will be included in EA's "sales" figures for the quarter, painting a rosy picture to cover the sudden reversal of SimCity sales.

I made the mistake of purchasing SimCity. I also made the mistake of purchasing it through a new online vendor offering a low price... Still waiting for my copy to arrive, will be mighty pissed if it arrives after the 25th...

Re: Tabloid hyperbole FAIL

Re: Tested a drivers skill...

Another issue here is how do you define drink driving? One beer? One standard drink? Over the legal limit? Incapable of speech? Did they adjust for body weight? fat content? gender? "drink driving" is such a broad term, and the effects of alcohol so diverse, that it simply isn't possible to say that it's "the equivalent" of such and such behaviour - it is what it is.

Whilst I understand the study's purpose is (possibly) to raise the point that we can't get too hung up on demonising one issue to the point that it's legislated into absurdity, making blanket claims does nothing to further the credibility of either the researchers or the study.

Re: Just a reminder.

As a big city-builder fan, I purchased the game (tried to refund it, but it shipped before I changed my mind and I'm just going to live with it). I haven't had a chance to play it yet, but it seems a few of the early issues are getting sorted. Having said that, it's a massive fuckup from EA - I reckon a lot of other devs will be looking at this experience and thinking twice about an online-only model, and chances are it's one of the last EA games I'll buy (pretty sure the last one I bought was Sims 2, or something for $5 off steam).

I'd love nothing more than to see EA go down, but it's a shame they swallowed so many teams and well-loved franchises beforehand - becoming "EA-ified" is now one of my greatest fears for any franchise I enjoy. It's like watching a game contract alzheimers, and suddenly think everyone is a 5 year old who can be tricked and lied to.